PSU Magazine Spring 2005

ALUM NOTES Christopher Bailey is the pan s department manager at Beall Trailers o r O regon in Po rtland . John Burchard is a saw opera– tor at Concrete Sawing ompany in Clackamas. Alexis Clark is communica– tions editor in corporate com– municati ons at ESCO, a manu facturer of enginee red metal pan s and components for ind ustrial applications. Stacey Foreman is a marketing analyst with Wells Fargo. Fore– man lives in Walnut Creek, California. Claudia Sprecher Gray attends the a llege o r St. Rose in Albany, New York, and is wo rk– ing toward a master's degree in adolescence education that will enable her to teach business and marketing in K-1 2. Gray received the Sister Anne L. Clark Scholarship . Sara Green MSW is a medical social worker at Tuality Com– munity Hospital in Hillsboro. Stacie Harp is an office man– ager at Lamko, a grocery retail firm in Wilsonville. Janna Johnson MSW is a case manager at Outside In , a Port– land social service agency that works with homeless youth. Tina Lundell is a hyd raulic engineer in training (E IT) at the Army Corps of Engineers. She will be in the EIT program for four years and can then take the test to obtain a civi l engineer license. While at PSU, Lundell was pan of Prof. Robert Benini's transportation class, which won the Metro Chinook Award for the design or a proposed Sulli– van's Gulch Trail that would parallel 1-84. Christian Merchant owns Green Horizons, a landscape design firm in Tigard. Ri chard Nystrom, Sr. , is a writer livi ng in Sherwood . He writes, "Started college in Califo rnia in 1950; fi nished a degree at PSU in 2004. Expect to pick up my PhD by age 90. Yes, I'm a hippie!" Greg Peterson MA is a graduate student in educational adminis– tration at University of Texas, Austin . Susan Spehling MSW is a social worker with Del Non e County Health and Social Se r– vice, a child welfare services agency in Crescent City, California. icholas Starin MURP is a city planner and a historic preserva– tionist with the city or Portland. Scott Sullivan MS is assistant principal at Estacada High School. Huan "Carrol" Tan is an accountant at onhwest Corpo– rate Cred it Union in Portland . Melody Thompson is a claims adjuster at Farmers Insurance in Tigard . Aleksey Tourkin MBA is a manufacturing engineer at Blount, Inc., a cutting tool man– ufacturer in Portland. April Wetley MEd teaches first– and second-grade students in a blended classroom at Abernethy Elementary in Portland. Ferne Epler, wife of the late Stephen Epler, the founder of Portland State, died Feb. 23 in Carmichael, California. She was 93. While in Portland from 1946 through 1955, Mrs. Epler taught music at Grant High School and starred in operas, including Ca rmen and Aida. he was also a soloist in concerts and church services. She contin – ued to teach in California high schools until 1976. D Helping tsunami victims in India 0 N NEW YEAR'S DAY THE CALL CAME: "How soon can you get to India?" Like millions worldwide, John Stephens MIM '03 had followed the tsunami's devas– tation on television. A temporary employee of Mercy Corps, Stephens had vacationed in India and still had a current visa. Although he and his wife had a todd ler and a second baby on the way, this mission meshed with his life's calling. "I've always wanted an international career where I could live and work with communities overseas Lo improve conditions for the people there," Stephens explains. Standing in the southeastern fishing vil– lage of Pondicherry, shell-shocked locals showed Stephens the fallout from the 30- foot wall of water that decimated their town. Rows of homes along the beach were crushed as though a bulldozer cut them in half. The wave tossed 20-foot-long boats into the center of town , where they blocked roadways or were wedged against trees. Stephens, his colleagues, and lndia's Disaster Mitigation Institute built temporary housing and distributed drinking water, food, and cooking utensils to villages within a 28 PSU MAGAZINE SPRING 2005 200-kilometer stretch south of Chennai. Agricultural communities were also hit hard, as tsunami waters traveled more than a mile inland and saturated crops with salt water and silt. Here, Stephens witnessed profound transformations. In an effort to drain the fie lds, crews of men from different religions and every social caste came together to dig giant canals. "It was amazing to watch people who normally won't interact with each other work side-by-side. In a short amount of time you could see positive changes tak– ing place, not only on the land but with the building of a new community. " While in India, a permanent position at Mercy Corps became available and Stephens interviewed for it over the phone. He got the job and flew home to his new role as the assistant program officer for South Asia. Stephens now facilitates communi– cation with field offices in Iran , Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Eventually his work will take him to these countries, where he will further his firsthand experience helping people overseas. -Kelli Fields